Your Website and You.

What Not to Do on Your Personal Website Having a website gives you an opportunity to show parts of your professional career that you wouldn’t otherwise have the ability to express. A personal website allows you to showcase your work, resumes, cover letter, and even projects you’ve had the opportunity to be part of, but with so much information available to add to your website, is there anything—aside from the obvious—that you shouldn’t put online?

Of course.

Listed below are five examples of what NOT to put on your website, enjoy!

1. Conflicting Colors

This is something a lot of us will ignore. You like a set of colors so why not put them together? Pastel green and hot pink could be your favorite colors, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should combine them on your website. Not only do your work and what you write convey professionality, but so does your color pallet. If colors conflict too much or make a future customer otherwise turned off from your site, then how do you get them to listen to and pick you? Choosing neutral colors, instead, will help your potential customers stay focused on your message.

2. Loud Visuals

Like colors, other visual aspects of your website can be beneficial in growing your product’s image and attitude. If your website, especially the home page, is littered with pictures, banners, or anything too “intense” or “distracting”, it could be bad news for business. Customers shouldn’t have to dig through a bunch of seemingly random stuff just to find their way to your important message. The page should be neat and concise. A customer should have the ability to look on your website and within a few seconds know exactly what you’re aiming for.

3. Too Good To Be True?

Maybe your product really is far superior to what else is available, but be careful with how you choose your words. In this day in age especially, customers are more wary of what is being fed to them and less likely to trust what they’ve randomly found on the internet. Be careful with words, slogans or messages that seem too good to be true because to a customer, it is.

4. Stock Photos

Sure, stock photos can be beneficial, but are they detracting from the message you’re trying to convey, or building upon it? Take care with your decision of photos on your site; don’t use poor quality or what’s “easy” to put online, and don’t forget to get your stock photos legally! Skip just downloading something random from the internet. It wouldn’t fare too well if a potential client found their art on your wall.

5. Bad Grammar/Spelling Errors

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it still needs to be said. If you question any of your grammar, make sure to get a peer reviewer. There’s nothing like having a customer assume the worst, especially when you’re selling your transcribing and writing skills. It’s hard for a potential client to trust you if you mix up words (like there, their, and they’re), or just forget to put the “r” in perfect. You’re smart enough to have your own business and your own website, so make sure customers can see that!